Chapter 174: Nightmares (II)

Elara:

"Jasper!"

I woke with a violent gasp, shooting upright in bed as though someone had pulled me from the nightmare by force.

My entire body was drenched in sweat. Tears were already spilling down my cheeks, and I couldn’t seem to draw enough air into my lungs. My chest rose and fell rapidly while I stared into the darkness, desperately trying to remind myself where I was.

Then I felt something warm in my lap.

Crazy was sitting there, his white fur slightly rumpled, his eyes fixed anxiously on me.

"You are alright," he said softly. "You are here, Elara. Take deep breaths. Slowly." His voice sounded genuinely worried when he added, "That one lasted longer than any of the others."

I couldn’t find it in myself to answer him. My throat hurt too much, and the image of Jasper trapped inside that burning car was still painfully vivid in my mind. Instead, I reached down with one hand and scratched behind Crazy’s ears while using the other to wipe the tears from my cheeks. He stayed there without complaining, letting me hold onto him until my breathing slowly began to steady.

Then my bedroom doors flew open.

My head snapped toward them, and Jasper stepped inside. His eyes found me instantly. He didn’t ask what happened. He already knew about my nightmares.

He didn’t try to fill the room with meaningless reassurances or tell me everything was fine when he knew I was still shaking. He simply crossed the room, reached the bed, and wrapped his arms around me.

I collapsed against him.

His warmth surrounded me, solid and real, and I clutched the back of his tank as though some part of me still needed proof that he was here. He held me without asking anything, giving me exactly what I needed when words would have been useless.

Several minutes passed before he finally spoke quietly against my hair. "Go back to sleep, Elara. I’ll stay here with you."

For once, I didn’t argue.

I relaxed against the pillows and simply closed my eyes, still wrapped securely in his arms. I listened to the steady heartbeat that my nightmare had tried so cruelly to take away from me, and soon enough fell into a peaceful sleep.

- - -

The enormous screen in front of me practically swallowed the entire wall, and for several seconds, I could only stare at it in open fascination.

There were smaller screens arranged beside it, glowing with information, charts, lists, and images that I hadn’t even begun to understand.

There were also two laptops, three tablets, and several other equipments sitting around the room. And the sheer amount of technology gathered into one room was something I had never encountered anywhere in Starfall before.

I finally turned in my chair to look at Magnus, who was sitting across from me with an unmistakable expression of anticipation, as though he had been waiting for me to finish staring so he could finally begin.

"I have to admit, I have never seen this much technology in one place since coming to Starfall," I said, still glancing at the massive display.

"That’s because you have barely been anywhere."

Crazy immediately drawled through our mind-link, his voice dripping with the kind of smugness only he could achieve.

"I could probably count the number of places you have visited in Starfall on my paws."

I narrowed my eyes at him and returned through mind-link. "You really know how to ruin a moment, don’t you?"

Before he could say anything in response, Jasper, who was standing nearby, gave the equipment another thoughtful look and said, "You just haven’t gone to places where such amount of technology is needed."

Crazy immediately turned his head toward me and gave me an unbearably smug look.

Told you so.

I resisted the urge to throw something at him. Since only I could hear Crazy’s commentary, Jasper remained completely unaware of the silent victory my ridiculous cat had just claimed all because of him.

I decided it was better not to waste any more time. Turning back toward Magnus, I gave him a small nod and gestured for him to begin.

The moment I did, his entire demeanor shifted. The relaxed anticipation disappeared, replaced by the quiet focus I had already begun to associate with him whenever he was working.

The first slide appeared on the enormous screen, and Magnus stepped closer to it before pointing toward the information displayed there.

"This is the complete list of properties currently registered under the Argentis family," he explained. "I have separated the properties connected directly to the Crown from those considered private holdings."

His finger moved toward two highlighted entries. "The Royal Palace, where we are currently staying, belongs to the Crown. The second palace in the Old Citadel also belongs to the Crown. Everything else on this list is different. These properties were privately owned by King Raven and Queen Seraphina, which means they legally belong to you as their surviving heir."

I leaned forward, studying the list carefully.

There were seven additional houses scattered across different regions of Starfall, each one carrying an address and estimated value beside it. I had expected my biological parents to have owned properties considering their identities, but seeing the actual list still felt strangely surreal.

Twenty years ago, these had belonged to two people I had never known as parents. Now they were mine. And yet, unlike the palace, none of them carried the weight of the Crown. They were simply possessions my biological parents had accumulated during their lives.

My gaze eventually settled on two properties, and I quietly circled their names on the digital screen.

Magnus moved to the next display, bringing up a detailed list of vehicles. I blinked when the first photographs appeared. Then I blinked again. "You are joking."

His lips twitched slightly. "I’m afraid not."

Apparently, my biological father had possessed a rather impressive weakness for luxury cars. He hadn’t merely owned a few expensive vehicles, he had collected them.

An entire showroom had apparently been maintained for his collection, with palace staff preserving every vehicle despite the fact that nobody had driven any of them in twenty years.

"Fortunately, the vehicles have been maintained regularly," Magnus continued. "The collection is still in remarkably good condition."

I looked over the list again, then at the photographs of polished vehicles that had probably once been considered the height of luxury. I felt absolutely nothing.

Maybe someone else would have been thrilled to discover they had inherited an entire showroom of expensive cars from their dead father. I wasn’t.

Most of these were old models by modern standards anyway, and I had no interest in keeping a collection simply because it had once belonged to a king.

"Sell them," I said decisively. "Every single one of them."

Magnus nodded and made a note.